Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Isaiah 13-14

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2

I continue with my deep dive of Isaiah, based on the Precept Upon Precept study series. Today, on Lesson 6, Day 5 (self-study of commentary day), the focus looks back on Lesson 6 (Isaiah 13-14), and it once again remains on the role and fate of Babylon, not just during Isaiah's time, but also during end times as portrayed in the book of Revelation. A brief review of the rise and fall of Babylon indicates that "[a]lthough the fall of Babylon marked the end of political rule of Babylonian rulers, much of the Babylonian culture, its pagan religions, and its ideology were continued in the kingdoms which followed."  Building on my post yesterday, most would agree that Babylon represents Satan and sin in a fallen world, so we see Babylon also playing a role in end times where Babylon is referred to in Revelation and Christ defeats Satan for eternity.  Clearly, whether it is during ancient times or current times, Babylon represents the pervasiveness of sin and a challenge for believers: how can we remain faithful when the world around us is so deeply sinful - it can be discouraging for sure! This post from DesiringGod.com helps I believe by framing the question around how and where do I draw the line when I get pushed to exalt man or the world above God?  

Key of course is daily study and prayer with God where we allow the sanctification process to work - we are transformed by "renewal of the mind."

Comment and discuss this post.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an incredible God and I am grateful for how You give me victory of sin and death as sin is pervasive and I know the sanctification process works in my life - thank You Jesus!  Yet I know there is more work in me to do - please keep going and help me submit!  I am not deserving that You made me one of Your elect, justified me, etc.  My sin continues...anger, worry, etc.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me. Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds[.]

Pages: 135-150

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds[.] Ephesians 4:22-23

Today, I continued with John Piper's Reading the Bible Supernaturally: Seeing and Savoring the Glory of God in Scripture, covering chapter eight - Reading to Be Transformed, Part 2. Here, Piper seeks to continue unpacking the fifth of six implications that flow from the ultimate goal of reading the Bible (as listed here); this implication is "that we should aim to be transformed by this seeing and savoring into the likeness of his beauty." Piper starts by clarifying one of his most favorite "slogans" - that "God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in him."  The clarification focuses on the word when - implying that there are "other facts" or conditions that must be present - he stresses "how indispensable it is that we pursue satisfaction in God." Piper then lands on our focus for this chapter (in two parts): "an explanation and justification of how the Scriptures function to bring us from seeing the glory of God to savoring the glory of God to being transformed-inside and outside-into the likeness of Christ."  Piper points to Matthew 12:33-35 and 23:25-26 to show how "outwards sanctity is only as good as the fruit of inward savoring" and how "the Bible aims to create authentic people who are so satisfied in God that their outward behavior shows that God is their greatest treasure." We are to "do good deeds so that others would glorify God when they see them." 

Piper uses both Matthew 5:11-16 and 1 Peter 3:13-17 to answer this question. In the passage from Matthew, "[o]n the basis of this indestructible joy in God, Jesus commands them to do what is utterly against all ordinary human experience....your joy comes not from the things [other people's] joy comes from, but from God."  In the passage from 1 Peter, we are encouraged to "be prepared" to share where our "hope" comes from, implying that "we are not hoping in the same things they are....So the secret to the kind of good deeds that get glory for God is a deep underlying satisfaction in God's promise of blessing that frees us to take risks in the cause of love that the world finds inexplicable.  In other words savoring God over all leads to radical transformation."  2 Corinthians 3:18-4:6 is also used by Piper to make this point. 

Finally, Piper wants to understand that the renewing of our mind as discussed in Romans 12:2 needs to be connected to Ephesians 4:22-23 so that we understand that this renewal of the mind is not just intellectual but a "renewal of the spirit of the mind."

Comment and discuss this post here.

My Prayer: Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who is transforming me from the inside out - in my heart and life.  Thank You Jesus for the blessings You pour out for me.  I am not deserving of such love.  I worry and I have other sins.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul and mind and love others as You love me. Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.

Exodus 14:14

The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still. Exodus 14:14

I continue my study of The Character of Jesus.  For this morning, I focus on chapter 15: The Firmness of Jesus where I highlighted in my Kindle version the following excerpts:

• "The majority of mortals are not strong enough to be themselves: they become echoes of their neighbors and walk in paths marked out by others. There is a spirit of the age which leaves its impress on every mind. Even the mightiest men cannot free themselves entirely from it."
• "But when we come to Jesus of Nazareth we are in the presence of a man whom nobody swerved or dominated, who is so free from the bias of his race and so clean of the spirit of his age that he seems to belong to all races and all ages. He is not the Son of David but the Son of Man, just genuinely, supremely human. He is not a citizen of the first century only, but the contemporary of each succeeding generation. Immersed in an ocean of mighty forces which beat upon him furiously through every hour of his career, he resisted them all successfully by the indomitable energy of a victorious will, living a life unique in its beauty and achieving a work unmarred by the limitations either of time or place. That he was not insensible to the dominant forces of his time, he himself has told us in the story of the temptation." See Matthew 4:1-11.
• "Who is a man that he should set himself against the expressed wish of a nation? Is it not through the people that God makes his wishes known, and what is it but egotism or insanity which would lead an individual to set his judgment against the judgment of the people ? This is the argument whose sharp edge many a leader has felt, and Jesus of Nazareth felt it too. Wherever he went he heard the people clamoring for a king, a king who should rise to supremacy over the wrecked empire of Caesar.  The nation was ripe for revolution. A word from him would, like a spark, have kindled a mighty conflagration. Expectations had been built up by men anointed by Jehovah, and these expectations were glowing hot, and how could Jesus hope to win the attention of his people or control the current of their life unless he fell in with their ideals and attempted to carry out the program on which their hearts were set? It was a great temptation, so terrific that he told his apostles all about it.  He assured them that in this temptation he had been wrestling with the very prince of infernal powers, but that notwithstanding repeated assaults he had come out of the conflict victorious. In choosing the road which led to supremacy by way of Gethsemane and Golgotha, he renounced the ideals of his countrymen and disappointed their dearest expectations, but so firm was he that the hosts of hell speaking through God's chosen people could not move him from his place. The nation hurled itself with frantic force against him, but he did not budge. He was the Rock of Ages. When we study his life with attentive eyes we see it was one long resistance to the forces of his age."
• "There were many reasons why Jesus should have conformed to the ideas and customs of the church, but he firmly resisted all the voices which urged him toward conformity, standing out alone in defiance of what the best men were doing and saying, notwithstanding his nonconformity seemed to the majority impiety and to many blasphemy. For a godly man to be classed among blasphemers is one of the bitterest experiences which the heart can know. But Jesus paid the price and continued firm."
• "Jesus could not be manipulated. He refused to be used. One party after another tried to work him into its scheme, but he was incorrigibly intractable and went on his way independent, unshackled, free. All the seductions offered by the men who sat on thrones could not swerve him from his course, and although his steadfastness made him enemies and finally nailed him to the cross, he was everywhere and always a man who could not be moved." 
• "Jesus could not be manipulated even by his friends. He had many friends in Nazareth, but he never gave up his principles to please them. They had their prejudices and superstitions, but he never surrendered to them."
• "The most tender and gracious and obliging of men is compelled to resist not only the prayers of his countrymen but the wishes of his family and friends. He stands like a rock in the midst of a troubled sea, and all its billows dash themselves against his feet in vain. There was something inflexible in his will, something granitic in his soul. When he found a man whom he thought worthy to be the first member of his church he called him "rock.  Are we to infer from this that it is the rock-like quality which is indispensable in the building of an institution which shall endure? It is certain that Jesus loved stability in others, and what he loved in others he had super-abundantly in himself. Firm himself, he loved men who could not be moved."
• "Salvation could not be offered to any one who did not endure to the end. It is in this tenacity of will that we find an indispensable element of Christian character. Men are to resist exterior forces and form their life from within. They are not to be swayed by current opinion, but by the spirit of the Eternal in their heart. They are not to listen to the voices of time, but to live and work for eternity. We like this steadfastness in human character, and we also crave it in God. Men have always loved to think of Him as the unchanging and the unchangeable, the one "with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning." And what we desire in God we find in Jesus of Nazareth."
• "From age to age he is about his Father's business, and in the midst of all nations and kindreds and tongues he goes about doing good." 

While the commentary provides ample evidence of Jesus’ firmness in scripture, the Holy Spirit guides me to additional examples in scripture of how we as believers must also be firm.  An unwavering faith – resisting temptations to either lack trust in God to provide and protect, or to act outside of God’s commands in the face of worldly temptations and persecution –  demonstrates firmness consistent with Jesus’ own character and what He commands and expects from us.  Two examples where firmness was not displayed - even among biblical heroes - was when Peter denied knowing Jesus upon Jesus' arrest (see Mark 14:66-72), and Abraham lying that Sarah was his sister (see Genesis 20:1-2).  Believers know that temptations will arise and that the only way to battle these temptations is with the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-20).  Exodus 14:14 tells us to be "still" or "silent" and to trust in God vs falling prey to temptations where we seek to take things into our own hands (acting outside God's counsel). Philippians 1:27 and Romans 12:2 urge us to stand firm in our faith and not to conform to the patterns of this world - instead we are to be transformed by the renewal of our mind so that we know God's will for us. 

Comment and discuss this post.

My Prayer: Father God, You are an awesome God who loves and is always there with Your Word, the Holy Spirit, brothers and sisters in Christ and more to help us to be firm and from falling prey to the patterns of this world.  Thank You Jesus for the full armor of God.  I am not deserving of how richly You save and bless!  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day. 

[P]ut on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Colossians 3:1-11

[P]ut on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Colossians 3:10

I continue my study of Paul's prison epistles - Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon.  Today my focus is Colossians 3:1-11, where Paul builds on text from chapter 2:13 where he shares that believers are "alive in Christ," and as such we are to "seek the things that are above."  Here are my observations using the Sword Bible Study Method.  

• What do we learn from the text about God?: V1: Christ is in Heaven, "seated at the right hand hand of God." See also Luke 24:50-51 and Acts 1:9-11 where scripture shares how Jesus ascended to Heaven 40 days after the resurrection.  This command repeated in v2 and in both the affirmative and the negative by sharing that we are not to set our minds "on things that are on the earth." V3 reminds us that our old self has died and we have been reborn (regeneration) - alive in Christ and our life is "hidden with Christ in God." The implication is that we cannot see this life hidden in Christ in God as it is above in Heaven - this could be the eternal life that awaits believers upon death or Jesus' second coming. V4 shares that what is hidden will appear and based on the doctrine of glorification our new self that is progressively becoming more like him (sanctification) will be complete and we will be in Heaven with Christ "in glory." Vv5,7-9 describe the sin that is to be put to death and v6 shares how "on account" of this sin God's wrath is coming - end times and judgement day when Christ's assured victory over sin and death will be complete.  This is a warning to be prepared for this day. V11 shares how Christ "is all and in all," encouraging us to share the gospel with all tribes and nations (Great Commission) and that we should acknowledge that sin is great equalizer among humanity - we all sin and fall short of the glory of God - see also Romans 3:23 and 1 John 1:8.      
• What do we learn from the text about people?: Vv5,8-9: Paul calls us various sins, including "sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry[,] anger, wrath, malice, slander, ...obscene talk from your mouth[, and] ly[ing]."  Vv9-10: These sins represent our old self and our new self (reborn and alive in Christ) "is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator."  This renewal of our minds is further described in Romans 12:2 and Ephesians 4:23.
• Is there anything from the text God wants us to obey (SPEC: Sins to avoid, Promises to claim, Examples to follow, Commands to obey?): We are to put to death sin in our lives, including but not limited to the sin described in the text today.  We should claim the promise described in the doctrine of glorification that all of us will be in Heaven with Christ again and the glorification process will be complete.  Follow the example of Christ who saw beyond the cross, set His mind on things above and endured the cross.   

Comment and discuss this post

My Prayer: Father God, thank You for my salvation, for giving me new life, renewal of the mind, and for making me more like You.  I am not deserving of my salvation nor any of the blessings You pour out for me daily.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others. Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied...Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Isaiah 1

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied...Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Matthew 5:6, Romans 12:2

I continue my deep dive of Isaiah, based on the Precept Upon Precept study series.  On day 3 of my study, the key takeaway was based on an instruction from the study to look more closely at the use of "iniquity" and "sin" in Isaiah 2.  Iniquity is referenced twice (v4, 13) and sin three times (4, 18, 28).  My study guide indicates that iniquity is defined as "deviat[ing] or twist[ing] from the standard," while sin is defined as "fall[ing] short of the standard."  Believers should certainly be aware and avoid both, but understanding the standard is the pre-requisite in both cases.  If we are not aware of or don't understand the standard, we are more susceptible to both iniquity and sin. I am reminded of how God promises to satisfy us if we pursue hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5:6) and how God will renew our minds (Romans 12:2) if we seek to conform to His image (assuming we do that by first reading about and understanding His image via daily study of His Word).

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who satisfies me and who renews my mind - making me more like Him.  You sanctify me - and I am better for it - thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving for how You sanctify and refine me.  Blessings beyond description!  I am not deserving.  My sin continues.  Worry, etc. Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Titus 3

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:4-7

I maintain pause my study of 1 Corinthians and focus on a study of 2 Thessalonians and Titus as part of a men's discipleship group (d-group) at my church.  This morning I read Titus 3, assisted by the Christ Centered Exposition Series commentary for 1-2 Timothy and Titus, and focus on vv1-8. Per the commentary:

• Main idea: We have been born again to live a new life of good works.
  
• Excerpts from the introduction: Per Millard Erickson (Theology, 955-977), regeneration is 'the other [divine] side of conversion. It is completely God’s doing. It is God’s transformation of individual believers, his giving a new spiritual vitality and direction to their lives when they accept Christ . . . it involves something new, a whole reversal of the person’s natural tendencies.'...."The word [regeneration] itself only occurs twice in the New Testament. One is Matthew 19:28, which refers to the cosmic regeneration in the eschaton. The other is here in the text before us in Titus 3:5.  Paul was vitally interested in both the nature of the new birth and the results of the new birth. He was unalterably convinced that the new birth would be evident in a new life— a new life exploding in good works."
  

Per the commentary, divisions for this text:

1. We Must Be Ready for Good Works (3:1-3): God created and saved us for good works (Ephesians 2:10). "Good works never save, but good works flow from those who are saved."  Paul's call remind to remember commands previously given in Titus 2:11-15.  In Titus 3:4-7, Paul provides seven commands in four categories.  (1) Submit obediently to ruling authorities and obey. See also Matthew 22:21, Romans 13:1, and 1 Peter 2:13-14. "Believers should not be anarchists or rebels. We do not subvert the government or disobey the government unless it brings us into direct conflict with the commands of God (see Acts 5:29)." (2) Serve eagerly (see Galatians 6:10).  (3) Speak gently (see 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, Romans 12:18) (4) Show humility (see Philippians 2:3, 5). We must also constantly be mindful of how God reconciled us to Him purely out of mercy - before we were saved, we were deceived by sin, disobedient, enslaved by sin, 'living in malice'  (Hiebert, 88), living in envy (MacArthur, 149), and we were hateful and destructive.  However, since being saved, we are a new creation - praise God!
2. We Have Been Regenerated for Good Works (3:4-7): God loves and cares for us and He changes us.  "Regeneration consists negatively of removal of filth and positively of a renewing, both brought about by the Holy Spirit. Regeneration washes us, makes us clean through the new birth."  See also Ezekiel 36:25-27 and Ephesians 5:26. God has also come for us (through work of Holy Spirit) and comforts us through justification.  "Having saved us, regenerated us, renewed us, and justified us, He now comforts us with a word about our future. We are “heirs with the hope of eternal life.” This is a reality now, though it is not yet our full possession. There is no question that this inheritance will be received. As a work of our triune God, the Father (v.4-5), the Son (v.6), and the Holy Spirit (v.5), it is a signed, sealed, and settled issue."    
   
3. We Will Be Rewarded for Good Works (3:8): Paul "insists" on his commands and a regenerate believer should bear fruit as demonstrated by good works that are seen as "good and profitable for everyone." 
   

The conclusion of the commentary for the text offers closing thoughts on the text: "Only those who have been regenerated by the power of God, been renewed by the Spirit, been justified by grace, and believed in Jesus and Jesus alone will go to heaven. Yes, we all need a new birth for a new life today and forever. This new life overflows into a life of good works that testify to the goodness of our God and His love for all people in Jesus Christ. This is the power of the gospel. This is the new birth for a new life."

Comment and discuss this post.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and how saved me and made me a new creation - thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such a God. My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.